


Good to Be Home

by Basilintime



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eddie Lives, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Some light angst, domestic bliss and insults
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 21:58:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20682581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basilintime/pseuds/Basilintime
Summary: Richie returns home from being on tour and finds that the time away has made some old fears rise up. Eddie helps calm those fears once more.





	Good to Be Home

“So, I think I should tell ya…I totally gave your boyfriend a hand job this morning.” Richie had been standing there for a while before he finally decided he should speak up before Eddie turned around and got the shit scared out of him. He had wanted to watch him for a bit though; a reminder that this was real despite all the shit that had gone down. That he’d been right to insist they go back to try and find Eddie after the house collapsed.

“Really? Well, I won’t comment on your low standards but I’m sure that was quite a thrilling two minutes for him.” Eddie didn’t even look up, continued to sit over the desk filling out some form on the computer. Work. His management of risk as if any of them had a realistic threshold for risks anymore.

“Fuck you.” Richie moved to lean against the desk, trying harder to get Ed’s attention on him rather than on his work. He’d been on the road for the last week and the least Eddie could do was act happy that he was back. Ed did look up at him then from under his brooding brow; puppy dog browns directed at him without a hint of humor.

“That an insult or a proposition because he left you unsatisfied?” Richie’s jaw dropped as he pressed his hand to his chest in pained offense. He saw the small twitch of a proud smirk on Eddie’s lips and for a moment could think of nothing but kissing them. It was far from the first time that thought had ever gone through his mind but he no longer had that lingering guilt with it. Well, maybe not as heavy of a lingering guilt. Some things still took time to unlearn.

“You’re getting far too good at these comebacks, Eds.”

“Well, I’ve had a lot more time to practice recently. Give me a bit longer; I’ve gotta wrap up this report so I can get it sent out tonight.” That smirk spread into a smile of a moment, a dimple following along the line of the scar that ran across Eddie’s left cheek. Richie reached down to run his thumb across it, knew that Eddie wore it like a badge of honor and Richie couldn’t be prouder.

“Thought we had talked about bringing work home, Eddie, my love.” Richie leaned purposefully in Ed’s way to block the screen of the computer. This won him another one of those looks of frustration as Ed tried to nudge him back out of the way. “Thought we had agreed that home time would be risk-free.”

“With you, Richie, nothing’s ever risk free. You weren’t here and this was an urgent project so fuck off.” The words were a bit harsh but he could hear it buried in Eddie’s tone; the apology and fondness.

“Well, la-de-daa, guess I’ll go give your boyfriend another handy. Maybe even see if I can manage a blowjob if I’m innovative enough-“

“Statistically speaking, the number of people who can actually give themselves a blowjob is extremely low and I can guarantee with your lack of flexibility, you aren’t going to achieve it without breaking something.”

“Sounds like something you’ve researched there, Eds.” Richie raised a brow as he stared down at Eddie who was back to being enraptured with his report. Eddie paused for a second but only to give him an exasperated look before flipping him off.

“Go give yourself that hand job, Rich, it’s the only action you’re getting tonight.”

Richie huffed softly as he realized he wasn’t going to manage to swing this around to his side. He hated that Eds got so lost in his work sometimes. Sure, he was gone for his tours and shit but when he was home, he was home.

“I’m gonna prove your fucking statistics wrong.” Richie reached over and closed the lid of Eddie’s laptop onto his hands and heard his exasperated _‘Oh fuck you!’ _follow behind him as he left the office.

Richie sighed as he headed into the kitchen with the intent of getting himself something to eat that wasn’t his own dick. He’d been hoping they’d have a bit of time to spend together since he’d gotten home a little early. He wasn’t really sure what he’d been expecting a year ago when they’d defeated the fucking clown and he’d helped drag Eddie out from the collapsed remains of that ridiculous fucking house.

Those first few months had been hectic but blissful in a way Richie never would have expected. After some awkward confessing and dancing around it for about three months, they’d finally decided to give this whole mess a go. Eds had officially left Myra at that point and they’d gone on a ‘date’ and the rest was history. But, that peaceful time of figuring out how to be in a relationship with his best friend and lifelong crush without the overt complications of regular life had passed now.

They’d both gone back to work and were having to be ‘adults’ as Eddie liked to say. Richie had never been all that great at this adult shit.

He pulled the fridge door open with an apathetic sigh as he tried to figure out what he could grab to eat that wasn’t just rabbit food. Eddie had been trying to get him to eat healthier than just pizza twice a week and tacos the rest. He ended up deciding on sneaking out the last of his stash of hot pockets from the back of the freezer and reheating a set in the microwave.

Richie listened to the hum of the radiation cooking his food as he looked back towards the office doorway down the hall. He was happy, ridiculously so, happier than he could honestly remember being before he’d seen Eddie walk inside that restaurant in Derry. He’d been terrified that they’d all forget again when he wasn’t certain if Eds was going to give him a chance or return back home to his life from before.

Forget what fucking It had made them see; having Eddie forget about him a second time in their lives would have been the worst.

The microwave gave off a series of blaring beeps to signal it was done and Richie turned to grab the plate that was unexpectedly hot. He cursed as he carried it over to the table and slammed it down before it could burn his fingerprints clean off.

“Really would appreciate it if you didn’t break shit out there, Rich!”

“You’ll thank me when you see the amazing feat I’m managing to preform, Eds!” He shouted it back down the hall and knew exactly how drastically Eddie would have rolled his eyes at him. Richie slumped down into his chair, not pouting because he didn’t do that baby shit, and bit into the hot pocket to find it was still somehow half frozen. He threw caution to the wind and decided to eat it anyway. The things were fully cooked as it was; reheating it was just an extra step.

He chewed thoughtfully as he nudged at some of the enveloped that were piled on the table. Bills and junk and a lot of shit he’d already taken care of thanks to the modern-day miracle of automatic payments and the far more surprising fact he had an extremely fruitful bank account. One that would be enough to support them and yet…

“How do you manage to eat that shit? I had a perfectly good meal in the fridge.”

“You mean that green concoction that probably has like…wheat grass or some shit in it? No thanks, Eddie Spaghetti.” Rich smiled as he felt Eddie’s arms slip around his shoulder, his weight rest against him and the back of the chair. Felt that thrill of the closeness and the fact that it was more than just the casual intimacy of friends. “You know…you could always just quit that job if they’re asking too much.”

“And do what? Follow you around on tour, be your fucking groupie?” Eddie pulled away leaving him feeling cold in the process though he did plant a chaste kiss against his temple as he went. Knocked his glasses a little askew and Richie straightened them as he shifted in the chair to watch him.

Eds opened the fridge and pulled that salad out to get himself a bowl. Took a bit of time to look him over, to appreciate the ridiculous dad clothes and the fresh hint of the tattoo they’d all gotten peeking out of above the neck of his cardigan.

“Well, I mean, groupie sex is pretty damn amazing.”

“Oh, you’ve got a lot of experience with that then?” 

“I mean, sure, though your mom prefers I not talk about it.”

“Jesus…” Eddie shook his head as he dumped a huge dollop of dressing on top of the salad, effectively ruining whatever ‘healthy’ affect it was supposed to have. “You know, the mom jokes are a whole lot weirder now given they have a whole ‘nother level to them there, Rich.”

“So, is that a no to the groupie sex then?” Richie grinned at him before taking a bite of the rare hot pocket. Eddie gave him a whole new sort of look as he seemed to examine Richie critically, taking him in with a slow prodding look that made that warmth pool inside of him.

“I’ll have to think on it.” Eddie gave him a look like he wasn’t entirely sold on what he saw before coming to join him at the table. “How’d the tour go this time round?”

“Oh, you know, hecklers aside it went pretty damn well. I’ve got to work on some new material for this next run but it’s going to be a few months before there’s any travel again. You really should come next time. We’re going to be swinging down through Florida, might be able to see Mikey.” Richie bit into a particularly frozen part of the hot pocket and crunched down on it with some regret that he hadn’t just finished cooking it as Eddie gave him a mildly perturbed look.

“That’d be nice but I’d have to see if I could get the time.”

Richie pressed his lips together in a tight smile at the comment. Tried to swallow down the cold lump along side with the sense of disappointment. He was finding he didn’t like being out on the road as much as he used to, now that he had something back home that he preferred to be with. Didn’t much like having Eddie out of his sight if he could help it. That lingering fear that it’d be lost again…

“You happy, Eds?” The words slipped out like they so often did for him. A thought that escaped without a chance for him to stop it and he winced at the look that Eddie leveled at him. It was out there now though and no point in trying to take it back. Richie was never in the habit of taking things back once they’d been said out loud.

“Yeah, of course I am, Rich.” Eddie reached over to him and took his hand from across the table. A touch that was familiar and comforting but did little to chase those long-seated fears away. His fears had always been wrapped up in being alone, being found out, being forgotten. Calling a demonic-clown a ‘sloppy bitch’ was far easier than all that.

Well, what he’d seen while trapped by the dead lights…

Richie shook his head as he sat up straighter and took another bite of his food. Eddie was still looking at him with concern though, had clearly not decided they should move on the same way he had. Bev would have been the only one who understood that particular bitch of a pickle; something they’d talked about during those months when Richie was certain he was going to be alone.

The one thing Bev had reminded him to hold on to was that they’d won. For reals this time and not just kicked it back for another 27 years so that their 70-year old asses could ignore it the next time around. It was real and truly done for and the whole remembering bit was evidence of that.

The fact that if they did all start to forget it would mean It was back…

“Hey, Richie, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just looking at your dumb cute face turned me off my food.”

Richie felt that need to deflect, to turn that focus somewhere other than the places his head liked to go when he was stuck in hotel rooms on the road. Guess trauma wasn’t as easy to get over as bullying a clown to death. He set the remaining half a hot/cold pocket on his plate and slipped his glasses off to clean them in an attempt to ignore Eddie looking at him like that.

“Seriously, my love, you’ve gotta stop staring like that. You and your stupid cute face are too much to handle right after the disappointment of finding out I can’t blow myself, okay?” He could tell that Eddie had leaned closer, felt a hand rest on his knee in that fucking casual way that Eds had always had.

“Rich-“

“You know, I tried, I really did but you were right. I’d have to, like, remove a rib or something and that doesn’t sound appealing at all. I can’t ruin my figure for it-“

“Beep-beep, Richie.”

Richie looked up at the cue that he needed to shut up and found Eddie so close his baby-browns were clear and visible. He opened his mouth to say something else about him being cute or handsome or gorgeous or all the various things Eddie was but he got cut short by the press of Eddie’s lips on his. His mind went quiet as his eyes closed and he reached forward to pull Eddie even closer.

Eddie had the frame of mind to take his glasses from him to set them on the table so they didn’t get dropped or broken before he settled into his lap. Richie gave a bit of a complaint when Eds pulled out of the kiss but he stayed close so their breathes mingled between them.

“You gonna actually talk about what’s going on now, Trash mouth?” Eddie’s voice was gentle and warm as Richie just focused on him; let his arms slip around his waist.

“You just kissed that trash mouth there, Eddie Spaghetti-“

“Richie.”

He sighed as he heard the honest reprimand in Ed’s voice this time and he ducked his head to bury it against his shoulder. He hated this, the fact that the fear still tried to get to him, but in this whole new fresh way that he’d never even dreamed could be in the past. Shit, couldn’t even remember was an option for a while, at least not with Eddie.

“Sometimes when we’re not together, I worry, you know? It’s a shock, I’m sure, given I’m usually the one that doesn’t give a shit but it hits me sometimes that maybe you’ll forget. Out of sight, out of mind and all that.”

“Richie, I couldn’t forget you now even if I tried and I sure the hell don’t want to try. You know that, right?” Eddie spoke close to his ear and Richie gave a soft laugh. It was stupid, he knew that, stupid as hell to be freaked out about it and yet-

“You did once before…” Christ, that was an asshole thing to say. He was an asshole. That hadn’t been Eddie’s fault. “I mean, in all fairness, I forgot too.”

“Well, I’m sure the hell not fucking forgetting again. I’ll spear every fucking clown in the world if I’ve gotta to make sure of it.” Richie snorted with laughter that was maybe just a little bit of a sob mixed in. He felt Eddie press a kiss to the top of his head, followed it with a couple more before working his way back to his lips. Richie melted into it, felt Ed’s kiss chase away some of those anxieties that had plagued him while he’d been away.

“Now, see, this is the sort of thing we could do a lot more often if you came on tour with me,” Richie muttered it as they parted and he felt Eddie still for a second. He wished he had his glasses on just then so he could actually read his expression. He hadn’t been joking about it, he’d love having Ed with him on the road, but he wasn’t going to make Eddie stop working if he wanted to work.

“You serious about that?”

“I mean, yeah...?” Richie leaned to try and grab his glasses, wanted to see if he could tell just what Eddie was thinking about the suggestion.

“I can’t just sit around all day, Rich, honestly I’d probably go a bit nutty if I did…”

Richie sighed as he managed to snag his glasses off the table and shoved them back on his face haphazardly as Eddie responded. Looked up at him feeling that sense of disappointment in his gut through it at least seemed like Eds wasn’t pissed off about the suggestion he could be a kept man.

“…I could try and find something that gives me a bit more flexibility though. I mean, the whole risk assessment thing has been great, but it’d be nice to do something a bit different that fits this new life thing better.”

“I mean, you could. Even something you could do while on the road. I mean, shit…fuck, look man, don’t let me selfish ass make you feel like you have to stop doing your thing. I already convinced you to move half way across the country with me and put up with my shit everyday-“

“Richie, shut the fuck up. You know I don’t put up with any of your shit and if I decide to do this it will be because I want to.” Eddie straightened out his glasses for him as he spoke with that fond irritation. Richie felt a bit of that tension relax in his chest and he leaned to nip at Ed’s neck just above that hint of inked skin.

“You know, never did get that blow job…”

“Guess you better start removing ribs then, Richie.”

“I mean, I could just call your mom-“ Eddie raised a middle finger to him as he shifted back out of his lap and Richie gave a grin. He reached out to snag his wrist, gently pulled him back down closer so he could steal one last kiss before letting Eddie slip away.

It was good to be home.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully it's not all too out of character but these two made an impact for me so I had to give it a go.


End file.
